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Training in Small Businesses

Small businesses play an important role in the economy and by ensuring these businesses learn and develop it means they are more likely to grow and create more employment. But there are many issues that affect the amount of Training and Development carried out in a small business. There will be more resistance than in a larger organisation and funding for it will almost certainly be tighter.

What is a 'Small Business'?

The term 'small business' is not that useful. SMEs (Small and Medium Enterprises) are how the Government refer to this sector, but this covers businesses that have 1 employee, to businesses that have 250, which by anyone's standards is quite a large. We, for the purposes of this article will define a small business as one which employs between 10 and 100 people. 'Micro Business' seems more appropriate for businesses who employee below 10 staff.

Barriers

Barriers to Training and Development in small firms include:

• Cost
• Lack of knowledge of what is available
• Unsure if the training adds value
• Unaware of the potential benefits
• Difficulty in providing cover when staff member is attending Training
• Lack of relevance of formal courses/qualifications
• Fear of losing staff once they have been trained
• Other focuses which are seen as 'more important' than Training
• Return on investment is less obvious, so Training is seen as a cost not an investment

Although there are all of the above barriers to training in small businesses, they do still train. This will probably happen in a less formal, unstructured way than the larger businesses. Training is more likely to happen on-the-job and is probably not recognised as training by either the party training or the one being trained. This will almost certainly be as a result of a need to solve immediate problems or performance or aimed at new members of staff.

Overcoming The Barriers

Ways of increasing training activity in small firms include:

• Identifying the business issues and tailor training to target these areas
• Looking at a blended approach towards Training by implementing solutions that don’t always take people away from their job
• Establishing the financial payback to the business from Training that does take place
• Using informal methods wherever you can

The Learning and Skills Council's Train to Gain' initiative provides impartial and independent advise on training to businesses across England. It is designed to help improve productivity and competitiveness through training. You can gain access to a 'Skills Broker' who will carry out a needs analysis of your business and will help assess what skills your business has now and what it will need in future. You can contact Train to Gain at www.traintogain.gov.uk

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